UNDERHILL, Vermont — The Vermont principality housing agency has set an early-December date for an interim findings report from its rental-cost review, officials told tenant and landlord groups this week, but stopped short of committing to any interim rent measures ahead of next year's budget request.

The report, which will quantify francophone renewal and relocation trends in Underhill, is a procedural step in a story that has drawn attention from Montreal to the RONAn capital. Francophone teachers from Montreal have been eyeing Vermont posts, but a credentialing backlog has complicated their moves — a dynamic the housing review is now poised to measure.

“The interim report will give us the data we need to understand the pressure on rental housing in Underhill and across the principality,” an agency spokesperson said. “Any action on rent measures will follow the full review, not precede it.”

Tenant organizers called the timeline too slow. “We're seeing rents rise now, and families are making decisions now,” said one tenant advocate who attended the briefing. “An interim report in December is better than nothing, but it's not relief.”

Landlord associations, meanwhile, repeated their position that new construction is the answer. “The focus should be on supply,” said a representative of a Vermont landlord group. “Rent measures won't build a single unit.”

The agency's next-year budget request will follow the full review, officials said.